Iris
by AdventAmaranth
Summary: Have you ever wished upon a star? Has it listened to you? Has it granted your wish? I once did. And it heard me. I regret it. For it was a pretty twisted kind of wish. And as a result...I ended up getting a pretty twisted kind of fulfilled wish.
1. Shadows in the Bedroom

**At long last Iris is redone. And I do like how this is going. For those who read the first version of this story, I hope you like this one better. If not, I am terribly sorry for changing it. :( **

**I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do.**

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"Where is it? Where? Where is it? It should be here! I am sure I left it here! I kept it in this drawer...but it isn't! It isn't here! It isn't! WHERE IS IT?" I move about the infinite amount of artifacts that I keep in this goddamned and old drawer. "IT SHOULD BE HERE!" In my desperation, I pull out the entire wooden cabinet and throw everything upon my undone bed. Between papers and pencils, toys and whatnot, I look for the box. I couldn't have lost it. Not now. I fought too much to obtain it. I worked too much to get it. I worked hard just to gain the money that could pay for it. Day and night, I worked my fucking back off in a job that doesn't pay shit. And all for what? To loose it just when I had it in my hands. No! No! It must be here! It has to be! "Please! Please! Please! Be here! Please!" My shivering hands move about the objects before me, looking exasperatedly for the box. The shadows in my room start to broaden and get closer to me. Cold sweat rolls down my forehead and temples; my breathing shortens and quickens more and more. "Please! Please!" The silence starts to choke me, for it is a sepulchral silence, from the grave. A silence so profound that little by little it corrupts the most valiant and brave spirit and turns the cat into a measly mouse. My eyes glance around me, while my hands keep on searching for the box. The shadows aren't that far now, they'll be upon me in no time; their cold tentacles look for my warm skin as they slither in the walls, as they pour from the windows, as they drag themselves through the floor. They look for me with their black and dark claws. My hands tremble even more. "Please." I pray to God for him to hear me. My eyes land on the shadows and a small and almost inaudible whimper escapes my quivering lips. The cold sweat reaches down till my neck, my hair bristles and my whole body is shuddering nonstop. The dense silence is only interrupted by a few whimpers and gasps that escape my lips as the shadows finally reach me. I feel them coil around my legs, their cold-freezing members grazing my skin while they move upwards. "Please." I beg, my voice cuts. "Please. Please. Please." My fingers turn clumsy and things began to get free from my grasp. "Please. Please. Please." The shadows reach my waist. The air around me turns heavy and my lungs have difficulty to get in precious oxygen. My heart beats rapidly, yet the blood...feels dense, as if it doesn't move whatsoever among my veins, clogged. My skin turns cold. The shadows start to touch around my chest, their cold touch caressing my sternum and pectorals. My hands and eyes hunting frenetically for the box. "Please." I stutter letting a few fear-filled tears pour. "It has to be here. It has to be here. Please. It has to be." I sob. The shadows looming over me now. My fingers graze something that make my heart skip with joy and I sigh relieved. The box! It is the box! "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." At last. At long last I hold it in my hands. The shadows slowly make their decent upon my head. Quickly, I open the box. The shadows threaten to swallow me whole. There, perfectly well kept lies my salvation. I take two and gulp them down without even bothering with the pain they caused as I swallow them dry. I breathe peacefully. In a few minutes the shadows will be no more.

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"Amanda Bryan."

"Here."

"Gertrude Summers."

"Present."

"Zack Friar."

"Present president."

"Julia Price."

"Here."

"Johan Silver."

"Here."

"Aerith Gainsborough."

"Here."

"George Kain."

"Here."

"Cloud Strife."

"Present."

"Malon Cross."

"Here."

"Duvian Layers."

"Sep."

"Link Hanlon." Silence. The teacher looks around with her sharp brown eyes upon the lack of response. The keen gaze rested on her students, asking without words if someone knew about their classmates absence. She looked down at her notebook and there, on Link's name row, she placed the absence mark on what seemed to be a week's worth of consecutive absences. "Well...let's retake it from yesterday." She said and placed the book down along with her pencil. "As we were saying, integrals are..." The sound of papers and pencils scratching along notebooks resounded on the classroom.


	2. We called him Traunt

**Second chapter coming up!**

**Enjoy. :)**

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We called him Traunt.

Traunt for the way que wandered through the hallways of school with no worry whatsoever and like if the world were one big ball of total boredom. Rarely he came to class and we suspected that sometimes he bribed teachers in order to pass the courses for it was as clear as a diamond that his absence marks sky rocketed most of the time. But, even with his well-known and impeccable absence streak, his grades were excellent and in partials week he was always the last one to arrive and the first one to leave. It looked as if he were a robot that just accomplished with just the necessary and left to never return after two or three days. The teachers barely endured having him in class, for he paid as much attention in them as he did in his everyday life. He spent the entire lecture gazing out the window with a lost look and a pair of headphones in his ears. When the professors called his attention, he glanced their way with an indifferent gaze, he trailed his one visible blue pupil along their frame and what was written on the blackboard and returned to his contemplative state. If he was required to step before class and answer the problem; he would stand up slowly, as if time hung from his shoulders, and with a laziness that made me even yawn take the piece of chalk and did the unthinkable of answering the complicated question (designed specifically for him by the teacher in order to ridicule him before the entire class). He would looked boringly at the teacher, nod, leave the chalk and then return to his seat with the same sluggishness from before; leaving the teacher dumbfounded and looking really incompetent. Traunt was normally alone. We never knew any of his friends inside school. During free periods he would always be seen alone, siting on a bench or in the base of a tree, eating junk food and looking at nothing in particular. Nobody got close to him. It was said that he was a fool and that he wasn't worth talking to. Others said that he suffered from derangement and he had killed his only friend; that he was crazy and spoke to himself. I never saw nor heard him talking. Never did I heard him whisper a single phrase to the wind, nor hum a song. Yet, others claimed that he did speak and that it was in an unknown dialect; that he was actually a wizard who spoke with ghosts and specters. There was even this classmate who claimed that he knew him since early childhood and assured that he once saw him laughing alone, with a lollypop and a notebook. He swore that when Traunt turned to see him, his one visible eye turned red and that he bewitched him in that strange dialect. He claims also that he wasn't alone, but that beside him there was this black smoky shadow that made his bones and soul freeze when it looked him with those empty, obscure sockets it had for eyes. Although there are many things that Traunt has been charged of, I for starters can't believe them. I hardly doubt Traunt is a wizard. Ghosts and magic aren't exactly things I believe in, even less the black shadows that suck souls. These are the kind of things people that have no topic to talk about say. Any juicy rumor, especially those that involve Traunt, is very appreciated by us and tend to spread like ants in a picnic. If something happens, even really early in the morning, before midday it's the most loved topic for girls and an interesting news for boys. Even the most quiet professors will know about it. What can I say? We are a society of broken telephones and talking parrots.

Anyway, it was around 12 in the afternoon, just reviewing the last topic of our history class about the invasion of the Turks to the empire, when the door opened slowly. The teacher turned to look disdainfully at the incredibly rude person who dared to interrupt her class. Her fine eyebrows almost met in a thin line and her perfectly smooth forehead wrinkled. And who could be the master of such an act, but none other than Traunt. With his mien so calm and tranquil, that lost look of his and his carefree way of walking, he crossed the classroom and sat on his stool. "Well. But look who it is that finally shows to class." The teacher said, crossing her arms and with the pose of an enraged lioness. Traut just looked at her for a moment and returned to his dreamland. I scowled at him for a moment and looked at the teacher. I have probably not told you about the relationship I held with Traunt and I guess I should, for why would I pay attention to such a guy. And just to let you know it wasn't a romantical attention but one that was born out of spite. I guess it is the perfect moment to mention to you that I couldn't stand the guy. The man totally grossed me out. I couldn't tolerate him. It was frustrating to see how someone, who did nothing out of life and spent his days looking out the window and imagining an enchanted forest, happened to get everything. For someone as hardworking as I am, it was simply intolerable to see how a complete loser reached all his goals without even breaking a single drop of sweat. I hated his lack of punctuality, his almost inexistent effort in things, his way of walking, his spellbound gaze, his lack of respect for authority, his mere presence made me want to puke. Sometimes...I just simply wished to punch the hell out of him. Just beat the crap to see him react to something. I didn't know why. But he was the type of people that for a strange and unknown reason, you just can't seem to like. You just can't stand his presence. Yes. He is the type of person you just hate for simply existing. And even more so, when that person just doesn't get the hint that you hate his guts. Worst, when he doesn't even try to decrease the negative emotions you hold for him, but makes them grow deeper and take root in your heart. Just increases the hate, repudiation and frustration. But with time, even with what I mentioned to you, I would see my anger, my total aberration towards Traunt, completely and with a quiet breath, disappear.

The bell rang and soon the entire classroom was a collection of bags hitting tables, notebooks getting closed up and the typical murmur of questions regarding the weekend, the next hour or the day. I put my things away and walked nonchalantly towards my best friend Zack, a few girls saying good-bye to me. I was quite popular among the female population and the best of it was that the male population didn't see me as a threat but as someone worth having as a friend or acquaintance. I was quite agreeable and friendly to be disliked by my peers. Unlike some other people who didn't seem to mind if they were liked or not. Anyway, I stood before my friend who was packing the infinite amount of objects he took out for class. Seriously, he never understood that a pencil, pen and notebook were enough. "Hey Zack!"

"Hey Spiky!" He returned and hung his schoolbag on one of his shoulders. "Ready for today?" He asked and chuckled evilly.

"More than ever." I answered and crossed my arms in an cheeky manner. "I'll kick your ass like the last three times."

"We should see. Your lucky streak ends today." He threatened and laughed once more as we walked towards the exit of the classroom. I shook my head, but allowed a playful smirk to graze my lips. "I swear my dear friend that all those times that you managed to push me off the stadium were thanks to silly mistakes from my part. Yesterday I practiced until my poor fingers were bleeding. I shall see the fruits of my training, Cloud-san." I chuckled slightly.

"Hey there!" A sweet voice called our way and I turned to see my green-eyed angel running our way, followed by an equally gorgeous black haired girl.

"Hey Aerith." I smiled handsomely.

"Konnichiwa, Aerith-san." Zack bowed respectfully. An enchanting giggle left Aerith's petal soft lips.

"My, Zack." She said and giggled some more, her delicate hand covering a bit of her mouth, never loosing that feminine demeanor of hers that drives me crazy. "You always make me laugh." She combed a loose hair behind her pale white ear. "So, what are you doing today?" She asked fanning her brunette and fine lashes. She was the end of me.

"Today, my fair lady, it is the day I will finally defeat my eternal rival. REVENGE! I CLAIM REVENGE!" Zack said, and ran towards the end of the hallway disappearing behind the glass main doors of the school. He was a real goof.

"I guess, you are busy then?" Aerith said, her green eyes looking confused beyond comprehension towards Zack's antics.

"Why do you had anything planned for today?" I asked with hope embedded in my voice. It wasn't everyday that I got to go out with Aerith. Although I wasn't lacking on my confidence with women, with Aerith it came differently. I became a stuttering mess and a trembling pillar. She was the only one that could make me feel so vulnerable and yet feel so good and light-hearted.

"Well, " She began with that melodious voice of hers. "Tifa and I..." She said pointing to the black haired beauty beside her, who I had completely forgotten was there thanks to Aerith's charms. "Planned to go and have dinner at Luigi's. I was wondering if Zack and you wanted to come." She asked smiling wonderfully, tilting her head sideways so that the beautiful cascade of brown locks made her glow.

"Sure, why not?" I said trying not to sound that out of breath due to her angelic presence. "At what hour?"

"At eight." She answered. "So we see you there then?"

"Sure." I nodded and gave her my most magnificent smile. She seemed thrilled with my answer, if the shining emeralds in her face said anything.

"Perfect." She slightly jumped and giggled taking Tifa's hand. "See you there then." And saying so, she and her friend disappeared down the hall and by the glass doors. As soon as she left, the whole school lost that aura it once held. I sighed. "If only she could understand what she does to me." I had to say that out loud for the sickening feeling of depression was overwhelming. "If only..." My cellphone rang taking me out of my musing. I thanked God that Zack always got so excited about the weekend and that he tended to call me thrice a day even when he had nothing to talk about. He usually lifted up my spirits. If there was a feeling a hated having was that of overbearing sadness, the fatality that it came with and the soul shattering claws it held. Zack most of the times managed to push it away. "Hey Zack." I said trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?" He yelled making me flinch. Forget what I said about him...he's a real pain in the ass. "I'VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR AN HOUR OR SO!"

"I'm on my way." I said and walked quickly down the hallway. "And besides it's just been five minutes." I smiled as he huffed and muttered something along the lines of "fucking bastard...always late..." Sometimes...he was a real pain in the ass. But just sometimes.


	3. Of glares and a fluttering heart

**Chapter three! :D Enjoy!**

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"DAMN IT!" I cursed loudly trying to put on my pants as quickly as I could, every now and then I'll collide against whatever there was around me. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" I yelled like a madman, making a racket out of something so simple. The fight between my pants and I seemed never ending and in a moment of fury I hit my smallest toe against the acutest angle of my desk. "CHRIST! MY TOE!" Even with this pain inflicting event that could have very well cause my small toe to be broken, God didn't want my bad luck to end. A series of loud and heavy footsteps coming from the hallway just behind my door got closer and closer. I immediately flinched and my senses became as sharp as a hawk's trying to find a way to avoid a possible deadly confrontation. A few seconds later, that seemed like just a single breath, my door opened with a loud bang, the impact causing many of my prized possessions and books to fall off their respective places on my shelfs. I slowly and quite frightened looked over towards the threshold my eyes landing upon the figure of the most horrible and terrible witch in the far west. Her pink melon pajamas a mess. Her curly hair floating everywhere around her head as if something had exploded before her face. The killer aura threatening to fulminate my very person to smithereens. I gulped before such a twist of fate and waited with unkept terror for the witch to make her first move...which didn't took that long.

"CLOUD! WHY ARE YOU MAKING SUCH A SCANDAL! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" The witch screamed in fury, her shiners a bit much more noticeable due to the mascara that had smeared during the night. I stared at her paralyzed and hoping she couldn't smell my fear. Maybe...maybe that way she'll leave without nothing occurring to my person. "WELL?" She screamed once again. This was one of the main reasons why I left the house before dawn. The witch was not a morning person and in the past thing had happened to me, a series of unfortunate things, that taught me that it wasn't benign to cross paths with this wrathful creature during the first two hours after her waking. I was so into my musings, praying and begging to whatever supreme entity up there to take care of my soul before this fatality that had befall me, that I didn't notice the witch had gotten closer until she yelled once more. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?" Apparently, she still held that small piece of humanity in her, for I hadn't been hurt yet.

"Well...You'll see mother." I began slowly and with the outmost respect I could muster. To this type of creatures one most show submissive. "I forgot to set up my alarm you see, and...well...I'll appreciate it very much if you could take me to school." I gulped loudly. "Please?" She looked at me blinking in disbelief and slowly raised her hand. My soul unpinned itself from my body, flew up to the heavens, inhaled the pure air and enjoyed the little time it had on earth, taking pleasure from whatever landscape it could gaze upon. At least...that's what I would've liked. Or, maybe it did happen but the bang that was released upon me was such that I couldn't distinguish reality from fantasy. Or...that's what I imagined that occurred, because nor the first nor last actually happened. I was never hit and I divagated to protect myself from what I presumed would have happened cause I dared to ask something from the fury so early in the morning. I stared amazed at what the wrathful beast was actually, unimaginably, doing. She was, cutely, if I may say so myself, rubbing her eyes and yawning silently. Staring at me a bit drowsily she answered. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." She said unabashed. "Just put on some pants, will you?" And she closed the door. I stood dumbfounded, my pants halfway up my legs and my eyes almost rolling out of their sockets. I just couldn't possibly digest the idea of such a tranquil fury. I waited patiently, my mind trying to muster up what kind of trick was the witch plotting against me. Yet...nothing occurred. My room didn't blow up and I was still alive. Could it be the fury forgot? Yes. Most likely.

* * *

"Hurry, mother!" I said biting my nails once more.

"Look dear..." She hissed while pressing the honk repeatedly with her white hand. "It isn't my fault that you forgot to set up that nasty clock of yours. You well know that after 12 traffic is bound to be a pain. It's the hour people usually go out to eat."

"I know but..."

"Shh!" She silenced me. "We'll get there. Be patient. ARGH! Why aren't they moving?" She hit the honk, her face a mask of anger. I looked at the traffic, sighed defeated and rested my head on my hands. The traffic went by me as slowly and boring as it could. The witch had yet to wake up completely, I was late for school and the traffic was just plain awful. My day couldn't get any worst...Or so I thought.

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"WHAT?" I screamed unbelieving. This couldn't be happening to me! Not this!

"Damn, Cloud! You are going to make my ears bleed one day!" Zack complained, covering his ears as we made our way towards the cafeteria. I had just barely made it in time and was eternally grateful that I had arrived just in time for lunch. I hadn't had anything for breakfast and my poor stomach was complaining loudly. Yet...hunger was nothing compared to what just had been revealed to me. And I thought my day couldn't get worse. The gods liked to see me in pain. Damn sadists.

"BUT HOW?"

"I don't know." Zack began. "Look... I'm sorry okay? It can't be that bad." He said hypocritically. The bastard fed from my unhappiness and despair as much as the gods did. That was a given.

"This can't be happening." I let myself fall upon the chair, my plate hitting loudly against the metallic table before me.

"Come on! Don't be such a drama queen." Zack smiled and patted my shoulder. Oh! So now you wanted to help? Ha. You didn't mind a few minutes ago did you?

"How...Why didn't you choose me as partner?" I asked, my whole demenur one of killing intent and my eyebrows close together that I feared they could become a single one.

"Well..." He chuckled nervously. "Em...how to say it..."

"Aerith asked you to be her partner, right?" I cut and my glare turned icy. Both of us, unfortunately, held strong feelings for Aerith. So, our silly, strong crush for her was a delicate topic we tended to keep locked up in a drawer at the back of our minds. From time to time it would manage to slip through the gaps and come forth, putting our long and strong friendship in trial. Sadly, love is the strongest of all emotions and therefore sometimes our bond will shatter and bow before it. "Didn't she?" I almost yelled and fixed a hot and angry glare at him, hitting the metallic table hard enough that our plates and glasses and all that was on it trembled. Zack who had been poking his macaroni and cheese lunch set his fork aside. He was strong willed and therefore one of the very few who could put up a fight against me. He fixed a hard and burning glare at me, taunting with his ferocity my very own one. I knew it was foolish to provoke a fight against Zack, for we both could end up in a hospital right away. Still, I couldn't accept the fact that Zack and Aerith could ever end up together, leaving me behind to rot in my loneliness and self-pity and whatever other emotion their relationship could muster up. I wouldn't allow my best friend to run away with my girl and I would never permit that very girl to absorb my best friend. Nevertheless, it could happen for this trick of fate was something my mind hadn't been capable of imagining. Hell, I had a book filled with various ways Aerith could fall into Zack clutches and Zack could fall in hers. For every situation my brain conjured up a counterattack. I was selfish. I knew that. I was very, very selfish. But even within my selfishness...I became unselfish too. I also happened to have an entire notebook of the ways I could counter my feelings for Aerith and of the ways she could ever confess to me. And with every confession and bending of spirit, there was written a way to avoid such situations. I wouldn't leave Zack alone. Never. I cared to much for him to ever let him down. Yet...it seemed he had fallen. Of all the ideas I had imagined, of all the situations that could occur, my mind never created one like this. And it embarrassed me that it was one of the most obvious and simplest occurrences. One, I always teamed up with Zack whenever the time asked for it. Two, if we where ever in separate classes we would managed to convince our teachers that we would make a hell of a project, worthy of a Nobel prize, for us to end up working together. And lastly, it was a promise we had made since our early childhood. So...why? Why did this happen? How could I ever miss this!? It wasn't like me to have failed to see such an obvious situation. But then again, nobody is perfect. Not even someone such as myself. And now...look at me. Here having a glare fight against my very best friend for a girl. I knew we would come through this. I knew we would. But...what would our conditions be after we managed to walk the entire road? Could we still be the best of friends? Or would we become strangers to one another. For now, the only future I could imagine was deep within the blue eyes of Zack, between the fire and fury of his stare. Hated and resented beyond comprehension. So drowned in our fight we were, that we didn't notice the bright blue light at the very back of the cafeteria. So drowned was I in our fight that I completely forgot the major problem at hand. But...I will deal with that later on.


	4. The victim

**Chapter 4 :D Yeai! :D Enjoy!**

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I dried my hair which mysteriously returned to its natural spiky state and like if it defied all laws of gravity as soon as I removed the towel from my head. I sighed tiredly. I had had a rough day, but...Bless the heavens! It's Friday! No school tomorrow and I could rest and enjoy the well-deserved weekend. Even though, I had yet to study for my Biology exam next week. But...that could wait. Today and the morning of tomorrow I would devote myself in repose and take a time off from school related stuff. Besides...I don't wish to brag. Actually, I am a pretty modest person and humility is almost my second name. Nevertheless, I don't find it unnecessary to tell you this...But I am actually a student with near perfect scores. Therefore, I don't find it of any use to immerse myself in studies today. Of course, I'll kill myself later studying till I drop after my rest. I ain't like some other people I know of. And by other people I specifically mean Truant. Yes. I am intelligent and an innate genius. But, I am not the kind of smart that, just because they are far cleverer than the rest and gifted with unlimited knowledge, laze around and don't put any effort. No. With me, it's exactly the other way around. I double the effort in my work. And that extra push I give is always reflected upon the impeccable notes I get and the constant letters that the school principal send to my house.

To say that my mother shouts out of glee doesn't make justice to the happiness she emanates whenever she is reminded of the genius she has for a son. There is nothing more gratifying than to see the big wide smile drawn on my mother's face. She deserves it. She deserves all the joys of the world. Our life...Hasn't been exactly a fairytale. It has been filled with numerous obstacles and discouragements. From someone else's point of view it will look like some sick melodramatic novel. You see...ever since my father passed to the realm of the dead, my mother has had it black and gray. Working like she were a woman from the Industrial Revolution breaking her delicate back in harsh labor and long shifts just to keep up with the lifestyle we have. The least I could do is to show that her work does repay. It is the least I could do since she prohibited me from finding a job myself to aid the family economy. But, please don't take it wrong. Our life isn't that bad. In fact, we could be considered a middle class type of family. Yet, it pains me to see my mother so emaciated and with so lifeless most of the time. Each day after work she arrives exhausted. And as soon as she steps into our home, she eats, bathes and goes to bed. I feel even more miserable seeing her getting old quicker than any woman her age. And all because of stress and excessive work. I wish I could do something more. I really wish. But, the only thing I can give her are the tiny joys of a prodigal son. But...these ones will be multiplied when I grow up and have a nice job. I will repay her the way she deserves. A big, gigantic house with a mountain view; plenty of dresses, so many that she couldn't count them all; a spa day every week; butlers and maids everywhere, a chauffeur that will take her anywhere any time. In a few words: I'll give her the good life. Never will she have to raise a finger to meet the day's end. Never will she have to work till ungodly hours to keep our life in balance. No. It will be the other way around. I'll work. I'll become an important CEO of an important company founded by me. A company that will be the top everywhere and will reach the skies with its big skyscrapers. And my mother...My mother will be beside me. A proud mother beside her important, world-reknown son. It will be perfect. The perfect life that she longs for. I'll make it to fulfill all her wishes and more. She will be the happiest person there has ever been. Happier than she had ever been. Happier than what my father made her.

I finished dressing and stepped out of the shower rooms. Today, I had stayed till six to do a bit of gym. It was one of my ways to remove a bit of weight from my shoulders. Like some form of meditation. It relaxed me and allowed me to think in stuff I didn't usually have the time to. This time...I thought of my scene with Zack. We will always be friends. I am sure of it. Yet, beside a confident streak...there is always that little bug of doubt and unrest that lives along it. Inside of me, deeply inside of me, I fear that if something were to be born between Zack and Aerith...Zack will forget me. Even if my heart was strong and firm, the column that supports it, along with my ideals, possesses a tiny witty crack that step by step is transforming into a fissure that would, one day, make my whole security crumble to the ground like a pile of cards on a table. If his love for Aerith causes him to forget all about me...I don't know if I could ever raise at mornings ever again. I could put up a mask of happiness every single day. Internally though, it will be like a hemorrhage killing me slowly and unnoticeably. If I ever lost Zack's attention, if I remain like a ghost of his past...I won't be able to stand it. For me, all of my other supposed classmates were just acquaintances, pseudo friends. But Zack..nobody could ever replace the friendship I had with him. Nobody could ever fill the gap Zack could leave on me. I dislike being alone. My loneliness is my holocaust. I can't survive it. Being alone, feeling utterly forgotten is the worst fate the heaven's could ever designate for me. I fear solitude. I fear the incomparable silence of living with just one's self. It drives me insane to think of myself with no one beside me. But...If Zack wishes for it to be like that, if he really does...I'll be there supporting and standing by his choice. From the shadows I will keep vigil of him. Like a guardian angel, I'll see with my very own eyes that his happiness is ever lasting. For my very best friend, I'ld throw away everything. Even my love and our bond. His joy...His happiness is be worth it. I could keep on for a while; pretending that everything is as fine as it could be. Alone. The love towards my mother would keep me going for a few years. Nevertheless, the persona known as Cloud will be bound to slowly vanish. I will become like a living carcass of someone you knew. I could be, but not exist. Like a robot, I'll live my life by means of autopilot; a puppet with strings. Yes. If Zack were ever to leave me behind, that's how I'll end. Alone. And all because of a woman. A woman whom I love and Zack loves as well. After getting to such a conclusion, I ended up not wanting to exercise anymore.

And well...Here I am, walking to my warm home. Normally, I would leave gym at seven thirty. But today after my meanderings, I ended my activities an hour and a half earlier. My depression impeded me from keeping on. Sometimes, the best choices involve self-sacrifice. Sadly, although we are willing to do so, we later on regret them and start to conjure up different scenarios in which we could have ended with different results. What's done, it's done. It doesn't matter how long we wish for the consequences of our actions to be different. Nothing will change. "Well, time to go home I guess." I sigh pathetically. " I hope mom cooked something delicious." Mother had asked to take the day off. And of course they allowed it for she had been a really hard-working employee. She undeniably deserved it more than any other worker.

As I walk and think of what had my beloved mother cooked for dinner, to my ears comes the sound of laughter. Evil and cold laughter. For a few moments I am dumbfounded. Ever since I can recall, only students who are of a representative team and I are the only people around six o'clock in school. Especially on Fridays. The laughter came once more and with it my recognition system triggered. These laughters belonged to the four most vile and terrible peers I had ever met in this school: Ganondorf, Ghirahim, Sephirtoh and Loz. This could mean no good whatsoever. Wherever this quartet of guys where...it only meant trouble and pain. Against my survival instincts that told me to flee like a deer followed by a puma, I run towards the direction those macabre laughs are coming from; ending up in the entrance of the building I was located in. Silently, I creep behind one of the columns of the frontage. I know it sounds coward, but for now it'll have to be this way. I could fight off one o two of the boaster club. I am pretty strong myself. Against four...that's a different story. Suicidal at the most. I search around the visible school-grounds for the caravan of buffoons. I am worried about the things they could have done for them to be laughing like a bunch of noble ladies sipping tea. They are pretty well-known around the school for their achievements as athletes. They are the stars of our football team. Yet behind that facade of strong and athletic men, there laid the true colors that made them up. A bunch of troublemakers and bullies. I was amazed at how the school did nothing to set them right. And curiously it made sense the lack of school's involvement. The four are the stars and therefore held privileges for being the pride and joy of our school. Still...that was absurd. And since almost all the others students feared them...well the sickly cycle kept on and on.

Finally, four shadows catch my attention. And indeed, the shadows are the quartet of rascals coming behind a corner of the very same building I was in. They are merrily laughing and giving each other a few pats in the back in a victory and well-done manner. With my eyes, I follow them as a hawk does its prey. Waiting patiently until they got lost in the school entrance. I have a pretty detailed idea of what they could have possibly done and, if I am not mistaken, it involved a poor unfortunate soul who happened to cross paths with them. Poor kid would be pretty beaten up and bleeding. That was the job of those four. Although, I wish to help my fellow classmate I couldn't until the four brutes left the school for good. I don't want to end with a black eye. And so I wait and wait till the last tip of Sephiroth's long, flowy and silvery hair disappeared. As soon as it did, I pounce in the direction from where they had morphed from, hoping the poor soul was still in an acceptable condition.

I stop when my eyes land upon the bleeding mass who rested against the bricked wall. The clothing clawed at and stained with reddish spots that kept growing in size due to the cuts along the victim's body. The hair clogged together due to the carmine liquid that oozed from the victim's forehead, its arms and legs filled with bruises and cuts as well. In a few words, the poor soul before me was the pure representation of a massacre. I desperately run towards my fallen classmate and kneel before him. I take the victim by the shoulders carefully, in order not stress the wounds anymore. Those bastards! They had left this person to die so easily. I wish to claim revenge as seething rage brews within me. But that could wait. For now, my priority was the person in my arms. The hate I have always felt for the strong abusing the weak would have to be forgotten for now. Besides, I can't handle all four of them by myself. Look what that kind of idea lead my classmate to. I gently shake the person by the shoulders. "Hey. Can you hear me? Hey." I shook as kindly as I could, hoping to receive any sign that the one in my arms was still alive. Should've seen the surprise I underwent when a cold blue iris landed upon me, the other covered by a veil of golden bangs. To say I am shocked to the point I forgot how to breathe would be a lie, for never have I seen such person look so vulnerable in all of the time I've known him. How couldn't I have recognized him if just the feel of his presence sent me to uncontainable anger? How couldn't I have? Cloud could never miss a detail.

The victim in my arms was none other than the person whom I loathed with all my soul...

The victim was none other than Truant.


	5. The shock of a day

**I am terribly sorry for the last update I made. I wrote that chapter in a selfish streak of depression. I am terribly sorry to have published that and ended an otherwise acceptable story in the most rude manner. I ask for forgiveness from its readers. And hope that this version is better. The story won't end in just five chapters. Once more, I am terribly sorry. :( **

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"Cloud! What took you so long? The food will...AAAAAHH!" My mother let go a piercing scream upon seeing the figure I had upon my back. The plate she had been drying fell with a loud crash; the poor ceramic object broke into tiny pieces that flew around the whole house. And it wasn't something to be amazed about. Such a reaction was to be expected from her. The poor man that was currently bleeding unstoppably on my back looked like a bag of potatoes...an old and torn bag of potatoes. The brown eyes of my mother resembled to big bronze platters. With a trembling hand she pointed at Truant. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE POOR MAN?" She questioned with a high pitched voice. My eyes turned to her incredulously.

"It wasn't I mother!" I replied a bit angered and disbelieving. My own mother thinking that I was some sort of bully wasn't a nice thought for my poor heart. "The school rascals decided to practice a bit of boxing with him." I crossed the threshold, my mother staring amazed at the young man I held. "I don't know were he lives." I began in order to avoid a round of questions and suppositions. "And I left my wallet at my room so taking him to a hospital was way out of my league." I placed Truant...well...more like let him fall upon our couch at our living room." His body collapsed with a single thud on our poor old couch, tainting the fabric with his red blood. My mother slowly and fearfully got closer and her brown eyes turned from Truant to me. Her worry seeping off them like rivers. It had been a long time since she had tried to enroll me in another school; a safer kind of school. And I had seriously thought about it. I imagined myself studying and learning in big classrooms, walking in magnificent hallways and reading a book below a tree in a marvelous garden. I really wished that could have been. I really would have said yes since she first offered it to me when Zack came, three years ago, and his blabbering mouth had let slip the news of the school bullies. It would have been nice. But, hand in hand came security and money. Therefore, I denied my mother's offer every time she offered it. Again and again she did. Again and again I said no. I couldn't. I just couldn't. Kill her with more jobs to pay for a better school. Make her suffer and fall more than what she had already did. I couldn't. I simply couldn't. Even for the brighter future, for the many doors a prestigious school could ever open...I couldn't. I wouldn't ever allow it for me. I loved my mother much more than any future I could possibly have. "Mother..."

"Cloud..." She said in a soft whisper. "You know very well, this isn't getting any better."

"I already told you I'll be fine." I insisted, my eyes as serious as ever.

"Until when Cloud?" She asked, racking a hand in her hair. "Until when?"

"Until I'm out of there!" I answered back, walking towards the guest's bathroom were we kept our medical aid kit. "Besides, nothing has happened to me." I opened the cabinet that held the tiny white box.

"NOT YET!" She yelled behind me. "Cloud! Not yet! But it will!" I closed with a loud bang the small door as soon as I held the box in my hands. Truant needed attention. And even though I despised him with every fiber of my being, I wasn't the kind of cruel man that turns a blind eye to someone in need.

"It won't happen because I won't allow it." I exited the bathroom without sparing a glance at her. "If one of those buffoons wants a fight, he'll find it. I won't fall without giving a single punch." I placed the white box upon the small table before the couch.

"Cloud!"

"No mother!" I said facing her. "No! I won't change schools! You won't force me! You won't! Look at you mother!" I took her hands. "Look at yourself..." I sighed tiredly. "You can't anymore. You can't take anymore." Her brown eyes watered and a silent sob left her trembling lips. "Mother..." Tears began to fall. Defeated tears than ran down her face.

"Cloud...Oh Cloud..." She slowly fell to her knees, my hands never leaving hers. The pressure was finally too much and she let go. Loud sobs and cries resonated in our living room. "Forgive me Cloud. Forgive me." She trembled and shivered with emotion. The years had finally caught up to her. The negative emotions since my father's departure had finally weakened and crashed her. She was bound to break. And I would always be there to glue the pieces at the best of my ability. I would always be there for her.

"Breathe mother. Breathe." She suddenly pulled her hands away from mine and hugged me strongly. It shocked me for a moment but I returned the embrace rubbed her back in a soothing manner.

"Cloud...Cloud..." She cried and cried. "Forgive me Cloud...Forgive me..." The sobs almost made her mute to my ears.

"There is nothing to forgive mother." I said and cooed her.

"Forgive me please! I promised. I promised that nothing will ever be scarce in this home."

"And nothing is. We want nothing more mother..." I consoled her and combed her shiny locks of hair." I felt a prickle in my eyes, but dismissed it as some stray hair of hers that was poking me.

"I promised...promised that no ill will befall upon you...nothing will ever happen to you..." She sobbed and sobbed.

"And I am alright mother. You've done an excellent job at it." I slowly and lovingly took her by the arms, raising her as her chest heaved with emotion. Her sobs were loud and painful. Mother...Life hasn't treated you kindly, has it? And I...I am just another burden in your otherwise hard and terrible life. If only I...If only I could...Tears, unknowingly at first, fell from my eyes. Heavy and burdensome tears that hit the floor in loud splashed and bangs. I once more embraced my mother and she returned my hug with passion and strength, strength that we both lacked. Why? Why didn't life ever showed us her wonderful smile? Why? Why must our days always be lived with pain and misery? Especially my mother's. Hasn't she suffered enough already? Hasn't she?

"Strife..." A scratchy voice called me. "Strife..."

"T-T-Truant?" I responded, letting go of my mother and turning to look at the injured man on my couch. My hand wiping away the tears.

"Strife..." He called once more, his strength coming back slowly. "Strife get close..." I carefully made my way to his side. Something...something bothered me about this. A shadow was covering him. A darkness that shouldn't be there. An ill omen. "Strife..." His trembling and bloody hand searched mine. His cold blue eyes...those blue irises looked at me with something akin to adoration. Even with the tragic look of the scene, his eyes shone with such a pure warmth that they made me shiver slightly. I never noticed the strange fact that he was talking to me. That Truant, ever so quiet Truant, was actually using his voice. A voice that no one had ever heard. A pure and caring voice. "Strife..." He called once more, his hand still searching mine and his voice a chant of glory to something alien to me. But, that in a way was connected to me. His hand all of a sudden lost his power and fell beat on the couch. Yet, his eyes kept having that same force that penetrated me with its intensity, making me weep like my mother had a few moments ago. "Strife..." He smiled and somehow his hand recovered, catching a tear of mine that fell. "Strife..." My name he called and with the remaining willpower he had he difficultly dragged himself towards me. His blood flowing from the fragile body of his. Yet, he kept moving, slowly moving towards me. His ice cold blue yes never losing me, his lips the eternal smile. My mother and I were prettified on spot due to his feat. How could he still move? How could he still smile with all the damage he had? How could he still look at me with in such idolatry? What was happening? The hand that once captured my tears now caressed my cheek with tenderness. I was frozen before him. "Strife..." He called once more, his breath warm on my face.

"T-Truant?" My tears kept cascading. They just wouldn't stop. And the tenderness of his being just gave them away.

"Strife..." He sighed, his blue cold eyes gazed at mine with fervent emotion. And due to my thunderstruck state, I didn't notice the closeness of his face. The feelings that shone on those eyes held me hypnotized. His blood stained lips posed on mine and for a moment my world crumbled down.

He caught me in his blazing feeling, drowning me with his warmth. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to be drift apart by the tide of his being. I tasted his insatiable lips, tasted his addictive meat, tasted his sweet saliva, his delicious breath and his flaming blood. He burned me with his feel and at closing my eyes I just saw the blinding blue light of his blue irises. It blinded my mind...but I hardly cared. His passion filled me, his adoration left my light-headed. His whole persona overwhelmed me. I didn't know when I stopped hating him so. I never even understood fully why I loathed him. But at that moment, all that mattered was him. All my world was reduced to those lips moving over mine and those blue, ice cold blue, irises that stared at me as if I were his very god.

We separated. I stared at him, his reddened lips kept smiling and his eye showed the everlasting peace and joy that had turned me to stone the very moment they gazed my way. "Strife..." He sighed satisfied and returned to his laying position, his gaze never faltered in adoring my being and leaving me speechless. "Strife..." He said once more and his hand caressed my cheek once more, the warmth seeping into my skin and making me lean upon such wonderful touch. "Strife..." His hand left my face and rested upon his stomach. "Cloud..." He smiled ever more joyful and his ice cold eyes closed in a pleasant dream. I stared at his angelic figure for a few seconds until, as a hit of the wind, the true weight of the situation settled in. Horrified, I crawled back, my left hand over my mouth. My mother's gaze pierced me from behind as my heart beat at an unknown speed. I could picture her perfectly in mi mind. Her face ashen and with the telltale tears, her eyes wide open in utter astonishment, her golden mane framing her face and the air about her one of curious resignation. Her state was completely the opposite of mine. I was bristled from head to toe, mi muscles tense and ready to sprint away, eyes that scrubbed Truant's frame with utter fear and shame. I felt like a mouse before a cat, a kind and affable cat...yet a cat, my worst and most lethal enemy. I was terrified. The alarm at which my body and mind had been subdued was too much, and the aberration towards myself even greater. How did it come to this? What the hell was I thinking? Allowing Truant to kiss me? The person whose mere presence sickened me to press his lips to mine? Even worst…How did I allow him to kiss me and find it pleasing? What was wrong with me? What was wrong with me?!

I was in such a state of shock that I didn't notice that the black shadow that once covered Truant had dissipated into nothingness.


	6. At day's end

**Chapter 6. I hope you like it. Special thanks to LinkFreak210 for if it weren't for such a kind reviewer this story would've ended in the last chapter.**

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My mother cut the last bandage and Truant ended up looking like a mummy on my bed. The situation, which unfolded an hour ago, my mother and I hadn't spoken a word between us. I hadn't seen her like that since the first months after father's abandoned us to join the land of the dead. I knew sooner or later we will end up talking once more and most likely we will be referring to ourselves in an aggressive manner for a week or so until our fumes went down. Despite knowing that later everything would return to normal, it saddened me the fact that the current state of my mother was an indication of disappointment, embarrassment and such a deep sorrow that I couldn't describe. I on the other hand, felt so numb and empty. I was there, but just in body. Almost like on autopilot, everything I did was mechanic, robotic, as a computer that just responded to commands. I never knew when did I walk to my room, nor when Truant was placed on my bed, nor when my mother began treating his wounds. I just knew I was there, but not there at the same time. My mind looked like a raging war. Voices and thoughts came and went, images flew by and then vanished in the most recondite place of my being. But the outmost yell of them all, the strongest scream of them all that created a resounding echo that was close to driving me insane: why? Why had I allowed my worst enemy to kiss me like a shy teenage girl? Why had I let slip the situation just like that as if it were water? Why did I freeze on spot? Why, as disgusting as it sounds, had I liked the sensation of his lips, warm and soft lips, against mine? Didn't I like Aerith? Wasn't I the most re-known bachelor of school? Why didn't I deliver the well-deserved punch on his face for such an offense? Why? Why? Why did I feel so guilty over something I didn't hold power of? That wasn't my fault? It was on that precise moment that such a thought came to me that my mind cleared up and my soul came back to me with such force that I let out a silent but relieving gasp. I wasn't the one to blame. I wasn't the one to blame! I'M NOT GUILTY! But...if that was the real case...Then why did I feel like this? It was Truant! He had kissed me! I hadn't started this whole imbroglio, he had! He was the cause of my precarious mental stability! He! He! He! But, there existed something that caught my attention even more and that made me think things twice or thrice. Why had he acted like that? Why Truant? Why did you kiss me? Why did you look at me with such tenderness and admiration? Why? Don't you know that I detest you with all my soul? Don't you know that I desire with fervor to see you ten feet below earth? That I can't even digest the mere idea that I breathe the same air that you do? That such thought causes me to heave? My fists clenched and small droplets of carmine liquid flowed down my hand. Damn you, Truant! Damn you!

"Cloud!" My mother's voice broke me from my reverie. For a moment, I believed it had been the product of my imagination and this kind of imagination caused by the sole idea that made my heart ache with despair: that my mother might get to hate me due to the recent events. I was pondering upon such oceans when my mother's, my beloved mother's voice, called for me once more. "Cloud!"

"Mo-Mother?" It was simply amazing. I had until now believed the silence she kept would be a repetition about of our bitter past, but it wasn't like that. Then, if it wasn't as such, why had she looked at me and treated me the way she had while she tended Truant's injuries? Why her silence? Whatever it was, I was more than happy with the change...it was a good indication.

"Cloud! Dinner's ready!" She called once more and I, giving Truant one last fulminating glare, ran down the stairs, the delicious aroma of cooked food reaching my nose.

Dinner went by with no preamble and silence, one of really uncomfortable and agonizing style. The only companion sound being that of the silverware tinkling against the plates and the occasional sip from our beverages, such sound making the moment a lived one, an existing one. My eyes from time to time strayed towards my mother through my lashes and questioning the reason behind the sepulchral silence that I feared. Had she changed her mind?Or, was this dinner just that? Dinner. The discouragement was suffocating and in search of some form of relaxation I let out a profound sigh. The eyes of my mother didn't miss such reaction and I felt her gaze upon me. I felt the need to return such intense looks, but my own inner demons didn't allow me. I feared what I could find behind those cool irises. I feared for the negative and reproach that she could held of my person. It hand't been my fault. Yet, the fact that I had been involved made me as guilty as the evildoer. After minutes that felt like hours, the feeling of being watched disappeared and my world became as peaceful and relaxed as it had been. Even though, it wouldn't last for my mother's voice resounded on the dining hall. I flinched slightly. "Cloud..." She said, close to a whisper. Unconsciously I became as small as I could, barely the size of a mouse, and tried to hide my persona below a napkin in the table. "Cloud..." She called once more, louder this time. I recoiled. "Cloud...look at me, sweetie." I shuddered. "Please." She begged with such a sweet voice, so kind and lovely, that, like a kicked puppy who just finds the master that promises the world of wonders, I let myself go and did as she asked. "Cloud." She smiled with love and affection. Her pale and soft hand caressed my cheek. Such action made me doubt about the dark thoughts that swirled in my head. Then...She wasn't disappointed of me? She wasn't furious, sad or embarrassed by what had transpired between our guest and I? She didn't...hate me?

"Mother?" I sighed and took her hand with both of mine. Her eyes, different from what I had imagined, were filled with infinite love, the maternal love that surpasses time and space. A love that can't be defeated. It is the strongest bond that exists in the world, the bond that lasts much more than life and eternity itself.

"Cloud..." She began and I let go her hand. "W-What...What happened...with your friend..." Her hand took the glass with water before her.

"He isn't my friend mother." I hissed and reflected a cold and furious storm in my eyes.

"Then what is he Cloud?" My mother questioned with the same intensity. "Because...I assure you, what I saw it isn't..."

"Exactly!" I hit the table with my fist. "He isn't my friend! He isn't even close to..."

"I am his classmate." A voice from the stairs forced us to stop looking between us. And there, in the first stair, was Truant. His hand was holding the railing like a lifeline, his knuckles white with the strength he was exerting. I scowled. Slowly, he gave the last step to be officially on the first floor of our humble abode. To his surprise, his strength failed him and he fell on his knees upon the floor with a loud thud. And to mine; he didn't even gasped nor frowned. He was stronger than what I gave him credit for. Seeing the situation our guest was in my mother rushed to his side. Taking him gently by the arms, she pulled him up and led him to the table. "Come. Sit here." She said, giving him the seat at my left. Her brown eyes shot darts at me for such a disrespectful behavior but smiled as she turned towards our guest. How could her mood change so quickly? She was a walking emotional roller coaster, a psychiatrical case. "Now you wait here sweetie, while I bring you a plate. Hope you like ham and eggs." She said tenderly. Truant flashed her a warm smile that made me retch.

"I love them ma'am." Truant answered happily. My mother giggled slightly and disappeared behind the kitchen door, murmuring something about educated and perfect manners. I, on the other hand, glared with deep hatred and rancor. He had hurt me. He had stepped on my pride, stole my mother and even dared to...steal my first kiss. That's right. I, Cloud Strife, the perfect specimen of man, had never kissed nor been kissed. Why? Because, I was waiting for the chosen one that would make my life a heaven on earth. That beautiful person that was to make me feel like the happiest man on Earth, the one that would mesh her lips with mine, had finally appeared. And it was Aerith. Not this brute without brains. But he had taken all aspirations away with his petty kiss. So, you may guess that Truant's game wasn't funny at all. He had stolen my first kiss. My first kiss that was meant for Aerith had been cruelly turned to dust by the lips of the person I loathed the most on this earth. Such was my hatred that I hadn't noticed that Truant had been behaving so...un-Trauntish. He paid attention to every detail. Answered with respect to whatever my mother said, the figure of authority on my home. And, form time to time, the blue light of his eyes would shine on my direction. Its rays warm with passion that I had previously noticed, now passed me by without me knowing due to the intense hatred that I exclusively reserved for him.

"It seems your wounds have healed a bit." My mother said as she cleared the table after dinner. I was helping her obviously unlike our guest, who remained immovable on his seat. Ungrateful man.

"Yes, they are. Thank you very much Mrs. Strife." He said with that disgusting charming smile.

"Oh please!" My mother blushed as she picked the glasses up. "Stop the formalities cause I feel old. Call me Claudia." Her brown eyes landed on Truant and he nodded earnestly. My mother, seeing her deed finished and taking up the last glass at the table, disappearing behind the kitchen door. Angered to a boiling point, I whipped towards Truant and with the deepest, mightiest and most threatening voice I could muster I growled at him.

"I don't know what is it that you are thinking, but let me get this clear with you. I abhor you with my entire being, with my entire soul. In fact, I abhor you like an angel does a devil. Beyond death, eternally. You aren't welcome at now or ever at my home. On this occasion I let it be for you were injured gravely. But, once you set a foot out of here you are banned. You stay out. Don't you ever look at my home, don't you ever direct a word at my mother, in fact, don't even dare to look upon her. I don't wish to see you here ever again. Not even near our neighborhood. If I do, I swear for all that's holy and my life that I'll finish what they started. Do you understand?" Even with my cold and harsh words, Truant simply stared at me with that indifference so characteristic of his. If it was even possible, my blood boiled with more fervor and my anger was close to a volcanic eruption. I was about to land the strongest and painfullest hit he had ever received when my mother appeared on scene.

"Cloud," She began wiping her hands on her skirt. "due to the hour I think your friend should stay the night." The idea fell like a brick on my head. What...What was she thinking? My worst enemy sleeping below my roof? WAS SHE DUMB OR WASN'T MY REPUDIATION TOWARDS TRUANT?! Well...after all what occurred an hour ago..."He'll sleep on your bed for his wounds are still fresh. The sleeping bag is in the closet as always. You know what to do. Oh and sweetie" She addressed Truant this time. "Don't forget to call your parents. It's not nice to leave us worried sick." She emphasized her point by giving me a killing glare. Truant nodded respectfully. My mind stopped working and I entered into a shock phase while she walked my way. "Night, sweetheart." She kissed my cheek lovingly and bidding good night to Truant went up the stairs. What the hell was happening in my life?

"Well..." Truant began lazily, bringing me back to the real world. "I hope my presence isn't an inconvenience for you."

"Don't even think you are welcomed here." I snarled. "Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you get the hell out."

"Don't be a stick in the mud." Truant chuckled. Damn, I hated him more and more as the seconds ticked. He slowly tried to stand from his chair, form time to time stopping to allow the pain spasms to pass. "Where would I sleep?" He asked. With real doubt or just to rub it on my face that I'll sleep on the floor, I dunno. Either way he was playing with fire.

"Follow me." I hissed between teeth and went up the stairs to my room. He taking his time due to his terrible physical state.

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I placed the sleeping bag on the floor and readied myself to go to bed. Traunt had just recently taken a bath and redressed his wounds and now was looking at me with mild interest. His hair was still slightly wet, soaking the shirt and shorts I had loaned him since his were left bloody and torn. I promised myself to burn those once he was out. I had no further use for them anyway, they didn't fit me anymore. His one visible ice cold eye stared at me more intently as I placed my pillow and bed sheet over the sleeping bag. It was giving me the creeps. "Do you need something your Highness?" I seethed.

"Are you usually such a jerk?" He asked a bit offended. "Or are you just an expert on hypocrisy? Because, you certainly aren't like this around everyone else at school." He pointed out and his gaze intensified, daring me to answer to his petty remark.

"Just to those I can't stand." I said flatly and laid on my makeshift bed.

"You can't stand me then?" He asked, managing to sound utterly amazed at my answer. But his one ice cold eye betrayed his voice, for it looked...pained? Why would he? Why do I care? It isn't my problem anyway. Besides, it amuses me to see him so vulnerable and depressed. Serves him right. I realized I still had to answer back.

"I guess I made myself clear enough downstairs." I said as I covered myself with the sheets and turning the lights off with the remote. Sighing I waited for sleep to hold me when his damned voice once more broke the silence of my bedroom. I snarled angrily.

"Really?" His voice sounded entertained with malice.

"Yes. Now go to sleep." I grumbled and settled comfortably on my stone rock bed.

"You rather liked my advances." He said, and chuckled at my gasp of utter shock. How dare he insinuates so?

"Listen that meant nothing!" I growled with rage. "And if you ever...mpff..." I didn't know when but his lips found mine again and I had to feel the disgusting texture of his lips once more. Against my better judgement, for he had wounds all over his body, I hit him square on the face. With fueling anger and trembling rage I managed to let out my voice between a set of perfectly clenched teeth. My whole chest was contracted with madness and I barely managed to let air into my lungs for I wished nothing more than to unleash the beast within me and pound the bastard towards the next world. Containing myself was barely possible. "Don't you ever do that again." I snarled. "Fucking do that again and I swear that I'll kill you. You heard me? YOU HEARD ME FREAK? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN!" I yelled not caring if I woke my mother in the process. Truant had earned. Truant had earned it good. If it weren't for the sickening sound of the blow he received from me and the fact that he was yet to heal, I would have destroyed his face and body with my berserker fists. I shivered from disgust. He had stolen yet another kiss. The bastard had stolen another kiss! "I FUCKING HATE YOU! YOU HEARD ME! I FUCKING HATE YOU, YOU FREAK! HOPE YOU GET IT THIS TIME!" And saying so I let myself fall upon my sleeping bag, covered myself and tried to sleep. The shivers of anger and hate still present in my body. I had to control myself. Truant was hurt and, besides, I wouldn't want to taint myself with the monster's blood.


	7. Resolutions and worries

**Chapter 7 :) Sorry for taking so long to publish it. :) I hope you like it. :)**

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I woke up the next morning with a bit of difficulty. I hadn't slept well enough as you may assume. Not only for the lack of comfort my makeshift bed provided me but also because of the multiple tensions of the other day. My muscles felt as stiff as rocks and my eyes heavy and tired. Damn it! Another day of resting gone to waste. Damn you, Truant! That's right. Damn you! All of the misfortunes that exist in my life are because of him. It almost seemed like if his life rotated in reducing mine to angles and squares, making it a living hell. Speaking of Truant, he hadn't made a sound, not even his breathing could be heard. Was he still asleep? I looked over my shoulder and saw my empty bed. It was perfectly made that it appeared as if none had slept on it in weeks. For a moment it appeared weird to me, but after seconds I felt that delicious feeling of peace and freshness, of that wonderful feeling of happiness that caresses you when something goes well. I sighed with relief and fell unto my pillow once more, comfortable as I basked on my wonderful Truant-free morning. The walls of my room shared this quiet and soothing moment of mine and lulled me slowly to sleep, lost in the dream world that I was so fond of. Of course, I would have allowed myself to rest if it weren't for the voice of my mother that resonated on the house. "I'm coming!" I yelled back happier than usual. I guess not even the interruption of naps would bring my mood down. And, as if I were a ten year old on Christmas, I jumped off my makeshift bed and ran downstairs, making the lack of Truant in my life quite obvious.

"Good morning Cloud!" My mother said tenderly and embraced my frame with her loving arms. I was beyond glad to see her in higher spirits, the past forgotten and her whole demeanor one of radiant light. What surprised me beyond words was that she spoke to me as if nothing had happened last night. And being so, I didn't wish to ruin the little calm between the storm by asking her about her thoughts about what occurred yesterday. "I made your favorite!" She said and placed the plate filled with recently baked hotcakes bathed with maple syrup and butter. I didn't know what else did she add to the hotcake dough but...God...they tasted like heaven's clouds. I immediately dug in like a ravaging wolf.

"Oh! By the way!" She said as she seated before me, her typical cup of black coffee in her hands. "Your friend left early this morning and asked me to give you this." Saying this, she handed me a simple piece of paper, very wrinkled paper if I may say, in which a telephone number with terribly penmanship lay written.

"What for?" I asked my eyes still on the ink on paper.

"He mentioned something about a project you two had to finish and wondered if you would like to do so this week. He said to call if you so desired." She sipped a bit of her coffee and took out a cigarette from the pack before her. One of this days she was bound to get ill due to her addiction. Nevertheless, I couldn't deny that seeing her smoking gave the woman an air of power. She let go a puff of that stinky smoke and smiled my way. "I must say Cloud. That friend of yours, is a true gentleman." I scowled and looked once more at the scrawly writing of Truant. My jaw tensed upon the brewing storm. I had completely forgotten about the project and now not only was Truant ruining my well-deserved weekend..No!...He wanted to impose his disgusting and damned presence on my week as well. My whole body trembled with anger and I could feel the scrutinizing gaze of my mother on my self. I thought of all the calming techniques I knew and tried to ease myself unto inner peace or so its called. I breathed deeply and exhaled longly. In and out. In and out. With a long and final sighed I managed to suppress the turmoil of emotions in me and realized that if I wanted to get rid of Truant's presence in my life I had to end this fast and cleanly. Better now that later. I took another bite of those delicious hotcakes and reveled in that heavenly taste. While doing so I realized that perhaps one deity hated me greatly to punish me with such fate. But then again, who was I to question godly decisions.

"I'll call him." I took the last bite from my plate and stood up. "Thank you for breakfast. It was delicious." She simply flashed me a charming smile. After placing the dirty plates in the sink, I took my leave towards my room. And as soon as I closed the door, I slid defeatedly on the floor. My hand combed back my gravity-defying hair and with I sighed I took my phone out. The faster this ended, the faster Truant was out of my life forever. To my mind came the biology test that was coming. I trusted the knowledge I held for now and will of course study later on. This project was far more important than some meekly test. "Well...here it goes." Trying to push back the urge to puke, I dialed Truant's number. My throat became tighter and tighter with every dull ring from the other side. I loathed this, I loathed Truant with my whole being, with every drop of blood in me. Damn it! Why was my life so miserable? Oh wait...Because Truant meddled in it!

"What do you want from me?" The shadows crept closer and closer still. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" Their slithery tentacles curling on my ankles, painfully grasping them. Their cold limbs burning my skin. "GET AWAY!" Panic fills me and I try to pry my feet free, my hands hurting from the cold flames that escape from the darkness. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" The shadows remaining unharmed by my antics and continue slyly to caress my body, wrapping my legs and crawling up slowly. No. No. Get away. Please, get away. The contact on my body makes me tremble. Please. Please. No. No. Fear clogs my mind and I shake violently, twisting and trying in vain to brake from the shadows grasp. With every movement, like a snake, it tightens its hold on me. My lungs begin to collapse, the terror blinds me. No. No. No. Please. I want to live. I want to live. I am having difficulty to get oxygen. The shadows are on me, the air becomes less and less as time and dark limbs cover me. Why? Why? Why? Why is there no one here? Please. Please. If there is someone up there...If there is a kind one up there...Please...I beg of you...I choke as air is no longer entering me. The darkness engulfs my body. The fire burns my skin and it hurts. It hurts so badly. I cry out. The stinging becomes to much. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Why is there no one out there? Doesn't somebody hear me? "AAAAAAAAHHH!" My bones are breaking, my skin is charring. My mind is collapsing on its own, crazed by pain and suffocation. No. No. No. I can't...I can't...I can't go on. I am sorry. "AAAAAAAAHHHH!" No.

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"Hello?" I called as soon as the ringing ended.

"Hello." A voice answered my greeting. Quite short. It didn't sound like Truant. Had I been pranked?

"Trua...Link?" I questioned while I analyzed the paper on my hand.

"Yes. What do you need?" He asked with that same dry and monotonous tone. Si it was indeed Truant...But that voice. It was and yet it wasn't. But...why should I care? It wasn't my business, I just wished to finish with this.

"It's Cloud. I wanted to know if you can work today on the project." I replied, imitating the same tone that he had been using on me. Careless of everyone and everything.

"Fine." He hardly cared about the project if his answers were any lead at all. I swore that he was acting that way just to royally make me angry.

"I'll see you at my house at three, fine with you?" I seethed.

"Fine." And he hung up...He hung up on me? He hung up without even a good-bye? THE IMPERTINENCE! THE LACK OF MANNERS! WHO DID HE THINK HE WAS? WHO DID THE BASTARD THINK HE WAS?" In my fury, I three the phone towards my bed, opened one of my drawers, took whatever was necessary and with a loud bang closed my bathroom door. I never saw the message icon that appeared a few minutes later and, still today, I regret it.

I was reading my Biology book when a low knock upon my door reached my ears. "Cloud?" I closed the book and with a warm smile opened my door. My mother's brown eyes greeted me with a sparkly look.

"Yes mother?"

"Your friend is here." She merrily said with a big grin on her face. Truant wished to steal my mother from me. I tried to fake a joyful aura, and by my mother's reaction I succeeded greatly.

"I'll be down in a few seconds." I closed my door as soon as my mother disappeared down the stairs. Plummeting on my bed, I covered my eyes with the palms of my hands. "Come on Cloud...You can do it...Just a day...You can tolerate him for a day...An entire day...An entire day with Truant's presence...With Truant...SHIT! I'LL END UP KILLING HIM!" To my poor mind came the visions of Truant and I joining our lips. The hotcakes wished to get out of my stomach. Damn him! DAMN HIM! The audacity he had to steal my first and second kiss was bound to end with his death by my hands. No Cloud. No. Killing is not in you. You aren't a killer. Breathe. Breathe deeply. Breathe. "How did I end up in this mess." A long and heavy sigh left my body. With difficulty I stood up and went down to greet my "beloved guest."

"HAVE FUN!" My mother yelled from the porch. I sighed. Lately, I have been doing that a lot. I looked towards my "partner". His golden, short hair covered, as always, the left side of his face. Yet...even if he looked as usual. There was...something different about him. I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but there was something. Something that wasn't there before, something that wasn't there yesterday and something that wasn't there when he left. But...why was I noticing now? Why did I care? Why was I now paying attention on him? Why did I wanted to know what was there that wasn't before? If something bothered him? What was if of importance to me? He was Truant and I, Cloud. And to Cloud, Truant was nothing to him. Not a friend, not an acquaintance. Just the guy Cloud hates, loathes and abhors the most since he set foot on this Earth.


	8. The Red-Eyed Legend

**Chapter 8 :D Yeai! :) Enjoy.**

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We walked till we reached a little and small cafe that I frequented where they prepared the most delicious blueberry muffins I've ever tried. As soon as we entered a welcoming aroma of coffee and recently baked bread reached our noses. The interior of the small shop was pleasant. The walls were painted with home-like colors that invited the customer to relax in one of the multiples couches and sofas spread among the place or in one of the wooden tables and chairs placed near the corners. It seemed the owners wished to replicate the feeling of grandmother's kitchen during winter. I guided Truant to a table that was always empty for me, almost as if it were reserved just for me, placed near a big window that allowed one to see the park's fountain and for light to filtrate into the thick ambience of coffee and cream. I took my seat and motioned Truant with a glance to do so as well. Once we ordered: I, a biscuit and chocolate milk; Truant, green tea, I indulged myself in finding out what our project was about. "Well?" I asked to the loathing young man before me who seemed lost in thought looking out the window, searching without a clue something with his only visible cold blue eye. As usual, my call fell on deaf ears. Truant didn't even flinch.

"Well?!" I asked louder this time, but not enough so that I could remain inconspicuous to those around us and embarrass myself. Truant wished to see me explode didn't he? With the passing of seconds, his blue iris finally landed upon my and his lazy and empty stare nailed mine. A cold tremor hit me as our eyes clashed. A foreign feeling flooded me and I felt empty. For unknown reasons, my being froze over and all what I held inside of me scattered around the fake-wooden floor of the cafe. I searched once more in the eye of Truant something that wasn't there. Nevertheless, inside me I had a hunch which indicated that something used to exist in that cold eye. Something more that for a reason made me feel empty with its absence, something that would brighten this now null and cavelike room, something that burned instead of the icy glare. Curious that it mattered, still mattered, to me. I had noticed the lack of that unknown thing as soon as I left my home with Truant. Yet, now I looked deeper and, strangely enough, the blow hit me hard when I figured that what was missing was by far more important than what I gave it credit for. The missing piece made me feel as if my whole life wasn't nothing without it. Curious that it shall be so, coming from Truant that is. Why did he have to create such clashing feelings in me? I combed my hair nervously and gazed at Truant with the most normal stare I could muster. I couldn't let him realize the power and control he had over me. I wouldn't allow him to see and I wouldn't allow for this to continue.

"V...Li..." I began cuttingly. My voice was like stone and my throat as hay.

"The History project involves an investigation about an event, incident or anything referring to out city." Monotony. Monotony. "It doesn't matter if is fiction or nonfiction as long as the report hold enough bibliographies that support it. Pictures, books, anything." He took out a notebook from the backpack he had brought, opened it in a random paged in which a list was scribbled down. He handed it to me as he kept on talking. "I took the freedom of selecting a few subjects we could discuss about and that may help us to end this project faster." I nodded slowly and engaged on reading the small list. They weren't more than ten subjects, but all of them looked hard enough to get a good mark and yet easy to finish. But, the one that caught my attention, in a negative manner, was the last one. And by the looks of it, if the reddish streak below the letters indicated anything, it was Truant's choice for our project. It caught my attention and not only because I had never heard of something like this, but because it sounded demented and ridiculous. I glanced at Truant incredulously and without words asked him about it. I assumed he knew what my questioning glare was about thank to the reaction the subject gave me. It was quite obvious since none of the above would have made my eyes go wide with astonishment and for my breath to get caught on my throat. Had he smoked something while he was searching for subjects and made this shit up?

Truant's indifferent stare answered nothing. I re-read to assure myself that I hadn't misread the words and letters on his notebook. He was pulling my leg. Such bullshit could never make a project, even less our project. It couldn't be investigated and analyzed. Even if it were a fictional type of investigation because there was no way to support out theories and thesis. It was unexplainable, unprovable. This idea made impossible the impossible. Even fictional subjects held solid proves for they were based on certain events that couldn't be explained at the time. But this...this was completely unprovable! This was the fiction of the fiction! How can you prove what is completely fake? The teacher would want facts, dates, names, the light of reason and this subject simply lacked everything she would grade our project on! Besides, I wouldn't like to waste my time on crap while I could do a hell of a project!

Truant's ice cold eye rested on me. I once more stared wide-eyed at the notebook in my grasp and slowly ascended my view to let it land on his persona. It was then that the subject came to me as a joke and I couldn't avoid chuckling slightly. "The legend of the Red-eyed moon?" I cackled. This was just so funny. I could never imagine myself laughing at Truant's antics. But this was just so damn stupid! Picture it! Our project based on an eyed moon. A RED-EYED MOON! A direct F if not lower! The teacher would laugh out our expense and throw our project into the trash bin without thinking it twice. Even with me chuckling like a kid high on sugar, Truant kept quiet and as serious as when we arrived the coffee shop. He saw my mirth with such indifference that I felt a burning hatred forming inside me once more. And that's when I realized...he was serious. He was fucking serious! The smile was erased from my face like marks on the sand by the sea. "Wait a minute..." My eyes stared at him and searched his nervously. "This...This is for real? This subject is real?!" I asked panicked. He simply nodded. My hands hit the table with force. Screw making a scene. This bastard was for real! He was taking the project as if it were a mere stroll in the park. A game to play and to put my grades at risk. My perfect score just some points to loose. "You know damn well that the teacher would spit on our work before even reading it." I hissed and if looks could kill he'll be a raging ball of fire. Now more than ever I wished for the asshole to catch fire and die more than ever. The bastard took the notebook from my hands without even giving a care about the dirty look aimed at him and changed the page to one filled with notes. He looked at me with that dead and indifferent look and shook his head as if I were the heaviest burden he had to carry all his life. He thought I was a burden? Had he ever imagined how much of his miserable existence I have to tolerate everyday? I was about to talk back at him when his voice interrupted me so rudely.

"In ancient times, when there still existed kings and queens, when people still believed in magic and in fantasy, and when the celestial bodies were the purest and most perfect way to peek at the future...there existed a wide territory right where this city lays. It wasn't very big, yet it was strong, powerful and prosperous. The village was governed by the mayor who in turn responded to a royal family for a faraway kingdom. This mayor was selected among many by three specific values: valor, moral and spirit. The first value was tested by a duel with swords, spears and the like. The second value was based on interrogation by ancient spirits who casted illusionary spells to test the heart. The last one and the most important one was judged by five wise women. Each one protected the five races that coexisted in the territory and each woman protected the areas which the races inhabited. One of them guarded the village in the Center of the territory, home to the joyfullest and warmest of all races who welcomed any tired traveller with a feast. To the North, one of the ladies guarded the frosted and cold mountains where the toughest and noblest of all races inhabited forged by the sharp winds that threatened to bring down the mountains. The Southern areas were guarded by another one which protected the tribe that lived in the swamps, the proudest but most compassionate of all, lovers of flora and fauna alike. To the East the fourth lady guarded the canyons, home of the ruins of an ancestral empire whose tombs lay scattered in the arid ground and where no spirits finds rest. And lastly to the West the last lady guards the ocean where the wisest and grace-fullest of the races lay knowledgeable in medicine, music and clairvoyance. Curiously, just whispers of this territory remain. It is said that during a festive time, in the heavens a gigantic rock appeared. A moon. Yet, instead of the blue-eyed moon the people waited for, they saw hell's fire in its eyes. After three days, in the eve of the biggest celebration of the town, from a starry night sky, the moon let herself fall. The shadows of the night engulfed the land, burning everything in their way. Not even the ancestral ruins remained to mark the existence of such a land. Just mere whispers, for it was swallowed by the darkness of the night and for the fiery mouth of the moon whose eyes, they say, cry blood and fire."

When Truant finished his story I was left aghast. What...what was it? Such legend existed or had he invented it? Could such a thing have existed right here where we lived? I blinked and stared at the person before me. The implications of such a land existing in legend could lead us to the discovery of the century. Could the legend of the Red-eyed moon be real? A flash of white teeth broke my train of thought and I noticed that Truant had a dark and forbidding smirk that left me frozen and dreadful. But what terrified me the most was that for a moment...I swear...His ice cold blue eye became tainted with red blood.


	9. Dreams and Visions and Thoughts

I** do not own Final Fantasy nor Legend of Zelda.**

**Sorry for the delay. I had a hell of work these past months and well...yeah. Couldn't upload not even a measly chapter. But here we go the continuation of Iris. I hope you like it. :)**

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We agreed to see each other at the same cafe at exactly the same hour the next day. After the grisly vision of Truant's iris turned carmine, I had a hard time in recovering the line of conversation. I just saw the fine lips of my teammate move with a recognizable pattern, but no sound came to my ears and I simply couldn't decipher what he was saying whatsoever. I found myself lost in the scarlet eyed man picture and my mind wondered in the possible relation between the man before me and the legend of the red-eyed moon. But...no. That wasn't possible. What ridiculous ideas are you getting Cloud? It was nothing more than a legend. A vile story for kids possibly created to fill them with fear and educate them. Truant was just pulling my hair and I, like a good fool, fell for his lies. I was sure he was laughing at me at the moment. For sure, Truant was a sadist and the worst of its kind. And he loved to watch me at is mercy, playing with me and my head. The bastard. Damn you! Damn you, Truant! Daring to laugh about me, making me believe stupid things about moons and giants and fair ladies...Who did he take me for? I swore as I walked like a fury towards my house that I'll get revenge. In one way or another I'll make that odious bastard pay for every insult made to my person. My soul sought and demanded revenge; cruel, sweet and delicious revenge.

As soon as I arrived home I ran to my room, ignoring the slight pain I got from hitting my arm against the banister of the stairs. I closed the door with a thunderous push and yelled ireful. How dare that hideous bastard made me look like a buffoon? Who does he think he is to laugh at my expense? HE'LL PAY! HE WILL PAY THOUSANDFOLD! I pulled at my air in desperation and a disgusting sense of embarrassment sieged me at having fallen like a fish for its bait on his trap. I wanted to puke. I fell dramatically on my bed bouncing slightly until I was almost completely covered by the bed sheets. I must have looked like one of those ladies in a bad soap opera. "Shit...Fucking Truant..." I hissed while my hands kept their strong grip on my hair. My poor hair. It wasn't at fault that Truant was a fucker of the worst. "Fucking asshole..." My hands loosened their hold on my hair. That bastard. He must have had a blast with the reactions he got from me at his crazy idea for a project. He must have planned it all along. My glare intensified as I imagined his laughter. "Fucker." I snarled and glowered even fiercer at the ceiling, willing it to catch fire and with that appease the rancor of my spirit. But nothing occurred. And while I frowned with renewed fervor and the flames erupted from my eyes...the ceiling remained intact. Apparently, I still didn't possessed the strength to set things on fire. Besides, if I had it...Truant would have perished long ago. I smiled jovially. It wasn't a bad thought. I closed my eyes and imagined my hateful stare setting fire to a poor and weak Truant, who begged for mercy even though he knew none was to be given. In my crazy dream, I laughed maniacally while Truant screamed painfully and heartbreakingly. Yes. It was a nice thought. With a wide smile and a few well created Truant's painful screams, I fell deeply asleep.

"Cloud! Dinner's ready!" My mother's scream woke me up. It took my a while for me to react, for sleep still clouded my eyes and mind.

"Coming!" I answered and sat up. With a sigh, I scratched the remaining signs of slumber from my eyes. In that moment of relaxations my memory decided to react and I remembered everything that had happened hours ago. Why was I drowned into this mess? Why did Truant had to torment my days and even my hours and dreams? Till where will that guy go to make me miserable? Why me? I snarled and allowed myself to fall heavily on my bed. As far as I was concerned I had been the most adorable, obedient, intelligent, responsible, honest...en a few words...perfect man around! I had been all that had been asked from me and even more. Excellent son, successful student, a young gentleman with the ladies and the best friend anyone could ask for. What could have I possibly done to deserve a week in hell with Truant as the devil? For a strange and unexplainable reason my mind fixated itself in the thought and transformed that thought into a vision. But instead of it being a hell of hate and contempt, it became a hell of passionate lips and lust filled gazes. With Truant and I as the stars of the film. With Truant and I intertwined by our limbs. With Truant and I and Truants lips that burned my skin pleasantly. With Truant and I and wondering hands that molded and scratched and held and pinched. Truant a flame of desire. A crazy hell of passion and pleasures. "WAAH!" I screamed horrified. WHAT THE HELL?

"Cloud!" My mother's scream reverberated in the house.

"I heard! I heard! Coming!" I answered frustrated. I stood up, the vision still invading my mind. My breathing was fast and my mind revolted around it. What the hell was happening to me? Why was it happening to me? I descended slowly to dinner, a tad bit afraid. I couldn't deny it. I was slightly afraid of what the night may bring.

"Em...Didn't we agreed an hour later?" I asked as my eyes landed on Truant in the threshold of my front door. I had woken up an hour later than usual, a thing that frightened me when occurs. Bad things tended to happen the rest of the day. Things like the mysterious falling of our living room's TV, the fracture of Zack's arm and even the mysterious boiler explosion of my aunt's house. I swore that someone had probably cursed me the day of my birth. It wasn't possible that things like that happened out of nowhere only in the days that I woke up later than seven in the morning. So, the only explanation I had for such horrible and unexplainable situations was a curse. And that moment wasn't the exception. Things like that didn't just suddenly stop happening just when Truant showed up. To make things worse...it felt even harsher and tenser...the dread that is. I sensed that something horrifying was bound to happen, something terrifying and prettifying. I felt it in my body, flowing in my veins freezing them. I sensed the choking dread in the very depths of my soul. The unexplainable sense of anxiety, of wishing to remain hidden forever, overwhelmed me. And I couldn't stop the unresting beating of my heart. The only way I knew to stop from things to happen when things turned like this was to remain locked in my room. That way whatever terrible thing that was bound to happen will fall on my person. Yet...I had agreed with Truant to meet today. And Cloud Strife is a man of his word. It didn't matter how much his sixth sense screamed at him that he shouldn't put a feet out of his home, he was to fulfill his word. The Strifes never...NEVER...speak just for the beauty of the words.

"Yes." He said boringly. And with that slow and lazy voice, I remembered my vision of the night. My heart stopped beating and my breathing stopped flat. The images hit me with such a force that I lost my bearings for a while. My eyes landed on his fine, plump lips and on my mind they melted me with suffocating heat. His one ice cold iris looked at me and in my imagination it froze me with the intensity of its stare. The voice that so monotonously called at me, in my dreams it tangled me in a web of sighs and wailings. It terrified me what my subconscious could come up with when I wasn't paying attention. I feared what could such things mean and whatever they could cause me. No. No. I couldn't think like that. Aerith. Think of Aerith. I told myself over and over and over again. What was Truant doing to me? Why was it him that appeared in my vision of carnal hell? What was happening to me? Why was it happening to me? Aerith. Aerith. I need you. I need to see you. I need to feel you to forget. Forget that there was ever such thoughts in me. Aerith. Aerith. Please, Aerith. Help me get back on the road that I wish. Aerith. Aerith. Smile to me Aerith. Hold me in your soft arms Aerith. Kiss me. Kiss me as if there were no tomorrow. Aerith. Please, Aerith.

"Would you let me in? Or should I stay out here to roast like a chicken?" His voice brought me out of my thoughts. I didn't trust my voice, so mutedly I moved aside to let him in. Just before his other foot touched the wooden floors of my home he turned and looked at me with his only visible eye. And he smiled. My eyes locked on his one ice-cold blue eye. I swore I saw a flicker of something deep in that frozen blue. Something that I knew was there a day ago. Something I missed deeply the day before. Something that reemerged now. A flicker, a peek of something deep and unknown. And for a reason that I can't actually explain...it made my heart feel at peace and swell at the same time. Was I relieved to see such unexplainable light in his eye? Why should I be? Why am I?

In what had I gotten myself into?

Aerith.

Help.


	10. Woven Fates

**Sorry for the delay...many things have happened to me in this last few months. But here it is, the new chapter. :)**

**Hope you enjoy it. :)**

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"Let me get this straight..." I began as we made our way in the outskirts of town in a taxi. I rubbed my forehead a bit, feeling the forth coming headache. This was borderline stupid. Stupid, unnecessary, tiring and more time spent with Truant. I massaged my scalp as well. "You are saying that our project would not involve any investigation whatsoever, but...field work?" I sighed in an exasperated manner.

"Yup." He answered with not even sparing a glance at me while he chewed on his annoying gum. His lack of reaction was bordering on annoying. I gritted my teeth in an attempt to repress my anger and desires to beat him to a pulp.

"How come you are so calm about this? We could find nothing and fail the course!" I hissed, mi hands clenching with contained frustration.

"Why not?" His blue eye still didn't look at me. He made a tiny bubble with his gum that soon burst. He chuckled lightly as he cleaned it up with his tongue. Apparently he hoped that I would drop the conversation with his answer-question. But the fact that I didn't stop looking at him as if I could make him catch fire forced him to change his mind. "Look...the fact that nobody except me knows of this legend, doesn't mean it didn't happen. That the things I related to you didn't occur. I don't know why people don't have knowledge of the existence the village, of the land I told you about. But I do. And I know it was real. The fact that nobody else knows, doesn't mean it wasn't true, that it wasn't real. That's how ignorant folk are born, you know? Ignoring what it is achieved by putting effort on it." Something in the way he said that didn't click well with me and I was pretty sure that it was directed as an insult to my person. _Stay calm Cloud. That's what he is looking for. To make you explode and look like a fool_. "You are not an ignorant...are you?" He mocked. And I lost my bearings.

"To begin with Mr. KnowItAll, you don't even really know if the legend its true. You just know of it, but nothing indicates it actually happened. To make things worst, just like you said...YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS! How do I know you are not pulling my hair?! And I don't know why you are sharing with me such a legend, such a discovery of yours?" I panicked. "If it is actually true, you could have full credit. All for yourself! You'll be famous and avowed. Everybody would know your name! Why share it with me? Why did you decided to involve me in this investigation? You are practically searching for a needle in a haystack! It's a fool's quest! In fact it isn't...It's just...Why don't we do something different? Something simpler! Something that can be proved! Why don't we do our project about...I don't know...Something like I don't know...Prove the relationship between the economical crisis in the United States and Roosevelt and the Keynesianism. The crisis in Chile and the relationship between it and the copper based economy. PROVE WHAT IT IS LIKELY TO BE PROVEN! Instead here we are; in the middle of a God forsaken lands looking for God knows what like archeologists below the scorching sun, alone and with nothing but idiotic suppositions from your part to guide us! How do you know where to look? How do you know what do we have to find? HOW CAN YOU PROVE THAT WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME ITS TRUE? I have so many questions, not even an answer to one of them. To make things worst...I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I ACCEPTED TO JOIN YOU ON THIS STUPID ENDEAVOR TO DISCOVER SOMETHING THAT COULD BE POSSIBLY FABRICATED BY A MAD MAN!" I swear that while I ranted on my frustrations, Truant kept on that lazy and uncaring attitude of his, blowing and chewing his gum while his bored gaze remained on the field outside the car window. The poor chauffeur looked every now and then at us, his gaze weary and frantic. I couldn't blame him. He had just allowed a mad man to get on his car to take him to open land. At least he didn't have to spend the entire day with him. I sighed and thought about the price this silly trip could take. And that's when it hit me. Who cared about the monetary price this trip would cost...my grades...my score. "GOD! MY SCORE! MY PERFECT AND IMMACULATE SCORE BLOWN TO PIECES BECAUSE OF A STUPID PROJECT ABOUT A STUPID MOON! MY PERFECT SCORE BETTED ON A GAME! A GAME I WAS SURE TO LOOSE ALL THANKS TO A MOTHER FU..."

"It's here." Truant interrupted, his voice even prosier. And that just pissed me off even more.

"Arrghh!" I pulled at my hair in desperation. He was just a pretty annoying person.

"Stop your tantrum and childish snobbish attitude will you?" Truant remarked and paid the chauffeur. "Thank you very much." And with that he opened the door and got out.

"Childish snobbish attitude?" I hissed and got out, closing the door with such force I believed it may have fused it with the rest of the car. "I a snobby child?" The chauffeur didn't even wait a moment to bail out. He felt the imminent war at bay and made a smart choice. "You! You are the only snobby child here!" I took a few steps closer, imposing my threatening aura upon this fool of a man. "Here we are! In the middle of nowhere just to satisfy your lunatic ideas about a moon and an ancient village that sounds much closer to rubbish than a legend to me and...

"Look." He took my arm with force successfully shutting me up. With his finger he pointed towards a forest before us. It was quite an ill welcoming forest. Its trees thick and strong with long and leafy branches that managed to stop any kind of light to trespass, reducing the inside of the evergreen forest to shadows. I shivered. I didn't like the look if it at all. It screamed danger and mischief with such strength that my knees felt weak and useless. The wolf's snout all right. I took a step back and turned to look at Truant. He was paler than usual and I could see his ever ice cold eye looking with fear and apprehension the greenish tomb. A slight breeze, cold as ice came to us from the thick foliage. Truant trembled and fell to his knees. I kneeled beside him and held his arm. He looked paler and his breathing was frantic. "Tr...Link?" His ice cold blue eye stared detached towards the forest of doom. "Link?"

"Where this forest is once stood a swamp. In its deepest parts laid a kingdom called Deku Kingdom." His voice was languid and lifeless. His gaze lost to his mind and own world. I felt a pang deep within my heart. Why? God knows. "They called them Dekus for their strange appearance and for their eagerness to plant a big rosy colored flower named Deku Flower. They respected the trees and the waters as if they were their sisters and brothers, father and mothers. Even deeper within the swamp they raised temple in which they begged the ancient spirits for peace, protection and an abundant harvest." Now...I was certain Truant was even crazier than what I gave him credit for. A swamp? A swamp where the forest stands? I didn't think so. It was impossible for a swamp to have existed here. It would have taken hundreds of years for the swamp to disappear. And even more for such a forest to grow. No. Truant was irrevocably insane. His eye now looked at me and I guessed he most have read my mind for his next action was to hold my arm. He made it slowly, as if afraid of me, and with such a feeble strength that it could have very well been a child's grasp. "Listen..." He said hesitantly. Now he looked like a totally different person. His gaze was fearful, vulnerable and with a touch of something I couldn't quite realize what it was. He resembled a kicked puppy. A 180º turn of personality. It was when it came to me that kiss in my living room. How he looked so helpless, so small and fragile that I just wished to take him in my arms and caress his hair. He had that same peculiar shine in his eyes as he had that time. "I know this sounds a tiny bit...demented."

"You don't say." I snarked, and it came out even more aggressively than what I had planned. But...who cares? Truant was crazy and I don't have to stand it...although...With how he looks now...Maybe I should have a bit of mercy and pity. He looked so...lost.

"But I wouldn't lie to you. I swear I wouldn't." His tremors returned and he looked downwards, his golden mane obscuring that ice cold blue eyes that held such despair and fear. "I know the legend to be true. That's one of the main reasons I shared it with you. I know...for a reason I know...I just know that...Argh...I just know that..." A shivering hand combed his hair back and his ice cold blue eye looked at me. "I knew you would believe me. And I need you. I need your help with this." His words came out trembling and almost in a whisper. "I really do need your help with this project." His voice and the way in which he spoke left me in confusion and a speck of worry. He then looked everywhere, his iris never posing in a particular place, nervous and tentative, his body convulsing with tremors. Such was his wrecking state that I held his shoulders with firm hands. "I need your help. I need your help. Please. Please." He began to sob silently.

"Link..." I couldn't avoid the urge to hug him and so I did. Trying to hold him together as his bony body shook with the force of his sobs. What was happening to him? What reduced him to this? This wasn't Truant. This wasn't the strong yet lazy boy who bickered with me until I couldn't help but wish he burst to flames where he stood. But even the biggest incognita of them all...why was this project so important to him? And also...why did he need my help?

"Why?" I asked him delicately, my eyes searched his. Yet, his blue teary eye avoided my gaze and looked at the grassy ground, biting his lower lip. He seemed hesitant to answer my question, and yet he did.

"Because..." He gulped slightly, for a second our eyes crossed; mine firm and strong, his teary and saddened. But as quickly as it began, it ended. "Part of it...I knew you would believe me...as I already said." His voice was low and fearful. So low I almost didn't hear him. It almost seemed as if Truant trusted me. Why did he? I never gave him anything to trust me by. Other than saving his sorry ass...I have done nothing to prove myself trustworthy to him. So why? "And well...the other reasons...Could you give me time?" He asked and his hand landed on my left shoulder. "Please? I swear I will tell you...I'll tell you everything. Please. I swear. But I need time. Please." He sounded so desperate and hopeless that I couldn't deny his plea. His hand shook and trembled, to calm him I took it with one of mine and nodded as reassuringly as I could. It appeared that I was his lifeline to this world. As strange as it may sound, Truant was plagued with something and I was the only one that could aid him. And my aid was linked to this strange project, to the mysterious legend that Truant had told me. How it came to this? I was bound to find out later on. But for that moment, I felt that Truant needed me, more than anything. And when I took his hand, I sealed my fate with his. "Just in you I can trust." He said breathlessly and a tear fell from his eye. I wiped it with my spare hand. He gazed into my eyes, his teary eye looking strongly into mine. So penetrating was it that I felt he could look into the very depths of my soul. I don't know what he found, but whatever it was it made him sighed relievedly and I saw him smile. And God...was it the most beautiful smile I had ever seen...Wait what?

"Thanks, Strife." He sounded cheerful. I must have made some sort of face for he chuckled slightly. It made my body shiver. Why? "I am glad that I was paired up with you. Who knows? It may have been woven by the great ones that you were bound to aid me in my time of need." He slowly stood up, almost falling over again, but held his ground. "Come on! We've got a Project to finish." And saying so he walked toward the ill-bearing forest, chuckling as he saw my dumbfounded look. And once more I felt a shiver run down my spine.

Truant...what have you done to me? What are you doing to me?


	11. Palace of Illusions

**Next chapter! :D ENJOY! :D**

* * *

"We have been here for more than two hours, inside this damned forest and we have found absolutely nothing...WHY DID I JOINED THIS EXPEDITION?" I screamed in desperation to later find myself petrified on spot upon the rustling of leaves beside me. I gulped nervously. "Link?" My lack of tone in my voice simply scared me further. A flapping of wings made me jump and I whipped around in fear in its direction. That just strengthened the idea that I was completely and utterly alone in the middle of an ill forest. "Link?" This time my voice came as firm as it could; cold sweat broke from my forehead and my legs trembled yet couldn't even move a step. I hugged myself in an attempt to find comfort. Yet failed miserably; only denoting how vulnerable I actually was. The same tremor that ran through my body increased the terror within me and cold sweat began to fall down my forehead. My senses sharpened, everything around me got more detailed, causing me to turn before every sound of the leaves, before every breath of wind, flapping of wings and the cricketing of the bugs. "Link?!" I practically yelled. After another fluttering of wings, I recovered my legs' feelings and ran in any direction my shaky limbs took me not even stopping to take heed of the fact that I was blindly entering deeper into the woods. Perhaps, even rendering completely lost. "LINK!" I ran like a mad man. "LINK?! LINK?!" I evaded leaves and branches, bushes and trees and stones in a frantic search of my project partner whom had conveniently vanished into thin air as soon as we set foot inside the greenish area. Had he possibly tricked me? Had he just led me here to abandon me to my fate? Damn Truant! Damn him forever! "LINK? LINK? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" I ran and ran. Every sound around me sharp as a needle, every detail exaggerated to its maximum before my very eyes. Such was my running and I was so absorbed by everything beside me that I failed to notice the figure that ran in my direction. I crashed against it and fell on my behind heavily against the stony and hard ground. "Argh!" I heard and my eyes, which had closed upon impact, opened with a hit. Before me, rubbing a bruised forehead that was turning quite red compared to his pale white skin, laid Truant. Mine hurt quite a bit too. But I wouldn't let that show.

"WHERE WERE YOU?" I asked as soon as I recovered a bit. The man before me stood up, a bit shakily at first, and glared at me.

"Searching for you." He answered. "I found something you may find quite interesting." He said proudly and with a smirk. He offered his hand to me and I took it hesitantly. What was he planning? He pulled me up and as soon as I was on my two feet he pulled me even deeper into the forest, deeper into the black mouth.

"We would not get lost right?" I asked nervously as we ran.

"Of course not!" He said and chuckled. "Unlike you I have been marking the trees with a phosphorescent marker. I am a bit more cautious." I was about to reply something when we stopped. "It's here." I looked at the direction he pointed to and...I couldn't believe it. I gasped. Before us, the ruins of what once could have been a magnificent and grand castle stood. If at the best there remained some walls and a tower that sure looked like it could be brought down with the slightest breath of wind. I knew it was the ruins of a palace for the ostentatious design and the intricate marks in some of the walls. A common house wouldn't be that perfectly built. Maybe a temple...maybe...but there was something in these ruins that simply led me to believe that it wasn't the case. Perhaps, because it was quite large or for the different markings and representations carved in the walls, they didn't look like the ones of a temple. Hey! I do study a lot for my history class. Besides, I do like my History classes. It's always so...fascinating. So intriguing. I don't know how to explain it. Its almost like reading a really good and suspension wrapped novel. And even better you end up always wondering whether what you read it is actually true or not. There's always that small piece of doubt, that incognito filled reality...its just...I don't know. But I really like it. A lot. So...seeing this...this ancient and majestic place just...It is mouth watering. Anyway, I couldn't even breathe due to my amazing sight before me. "Its..." I walked slowly towards the ruins. My heart was beating nonstop, my breathing pattern was shallow and fast. "Link...this..." I couldn't talk. Something in my throat wouldn't let the words flow freely out my mouth, a knot of different emotions guarded my voice. I thought I was about to drown because of the astonishment. Yet, Truant's voice was strong and clear...apparently he wasn't as affected as I was.

"So, what do you think?" He asked with a light laugh, he stood by me. "Quite amazing isn't it?"

"Link..this is..." A low wind blew giving the palace even a more majestic and sombre at the same time. "This is...how?"

"Something told me it was here." He answered but his voice didn't come out as convincing as before. There was this stain of insecurity that not even the most naive person could be deceived. "A feeling so to speak." Although the uncertainty of his voice, I prefer to let things be. Let him enjoy his finding. He deserved it and I wasn't about to go ahead and spoil his fun. In my mind...In my mind and soul, the idea I held of Truant before was changing. I could feel it. His mere presence may still be a sore spot for my otherwise sunny life. But...Now, I couldn't find it in me to hate the fella. There was something within him that found him bearable in the face of my presence. Didn't know what it was, but it was there. A calming aura that had just emerged which managed to subdue the hating beast inside me. I smiled his way. A smile that for first time wasn't forced. He returned it, a bit small and with not the same fervor mine held, a smile nonetheless. My eyes returned towards the ruins, devouring every moldy wall, every cracking stone, every column in decay and every mark that was about to disappear. This was like a dream. A palace in ruins just a few steps apart. A palace that had never been discovered even though it laid right before the nose of civilization. To make things better, Truant and I were the only ones who knew of its existence. I couldn't hold back the wish to start investigating this beautiful ancient castle and so I burst ruining towards the ruins, the emotions growing with amazing speed with each step I took.

"COME ON LINK!" I yelled as the ruins got closer and closer. "WE'VE GOT A PROJECT TO FINISH!" I heard the sounds of footsteps behind me and a smile drew on my face once more. Why? I didn't know. I only knew that I found the presence of Truant behind me a comforting one.

* * *

The minutes passed and as my eyes ravened each crevice and dent, each wall and floor, the more I fell in love with the culture who had created such a splendorous palace. Soon, the minutes turned to hours and those hours led us to midnight. Truant and I hardly spoke if it wasn't related to what would be included in the project. The majority of the time we spent it taking notes, photographs, drawing and catching down any doubts and questions that surfaced to mind. Even though, I began to even appreciate further Truant's presence. He made quite interesting deductions and his questions led even to profound knowledge. Not only that. He knew things about the palace that at first glance you couldn't even begin to decipher. From where did he get the information? God knows. Yet, I must admit all that he said was quite ground based and believable.

"In this side there used to be a garden, a labyrinth garden. Each corridor was guarded by a Deku knight. It was quite hard to pass through it, let alone get to the other end. Opposite to us led a similar garden, but this one was filled with different sets of fruit bearing trees, while the other was a more flower based one. Yet the concept was the same, make it difficult for trespassers to pass them through." He chuckled. "If the gardens didn't confound you, the guards were likely to capture you and lead you to the dungeons." He then motioned his hair to the far of end of the corridor we stood on. "Down the hallway, laid the throne room." Each thing he said, I absorbed it like a sponge does water. I took notes of every word he ushered. He was like the mighty teacher and I a fateful pupil. Every word I wrote served to satiate my insatiable curiosity. Every thing he whispered was taken in with fervor. Yet, not all my eager learning nature was filled and satisfied. Truant was yet a mystery to me. An intricate mystery that had yet to be solved and that perhaps never will. The main issue revolved around the question of how did he hold so much knowledge of this place. Why share it with me? This palace could be the most amazing discovery of decades. He could held all the credit himself. Why share it with me?

"These marks indicate that here was the place were prisoners and traitors were tortured. With just that clue you can fathom the idea that ill bearers were not to be taken likely. The location of the throne right in front of the torture area indicated that the king thought of himself superior and wished to share that idea with the neighboring populations. He probably viewed it as a form of entertainment. Quite a clear message don't you think? The Dekus aren't merciful folk, you know?"

"What about the cell on this side?"

"I suppose there is where the next tortured must have been held. I assume that the mental break down was the first form of torture, followed by the physical one. Watching what was bound to happen to you mustn't have been quite the relaxation method you needed to face your torturers."

"No mercy, huh?"

"King Deku wished to deliver the message clearly. That it wasn't a wise move to mess with the Deku, let alone the nobility of the Deku Kingdom. Sometimes the best defense for a kingdom is to appear cold and blood-thirsty to the other nations. Yet...for how long those that kind of thinking may endure?" Wise question.

We collected and wrote and took what we could, and found our way, guided by the glowing marks Link had left behind, and made our way towards open road. Apparently, Link had asked the chauffeur of the taxi to pick us up at a certain hour. Quite well thought from Link's part for who would dare to venture at night in the openness of the wild? Not many, I am sure. So, I had Link to thank for the ride back.

The forest at night didn't seem as threatening as it did in the day. The moonlight gave it a strange sense of a mystical place. Maybe it was the lights that glowed in the bark of the trees and the multiple fireflies that floated around. It made the whole scenario seem peaceful and welcoming. Strange that it fitted the forest so well. "So, what comes next?" I asked as we walked out the last couple of trees and into open air. I breathed deeply the cold night air. Although the forest was quite nice, I missed the freshness of the prairie.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." He said dryly. He was tense and looked fixedly at one point at the other side of the road. A light tremor attacked him and I could see small drops of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. He was even paler than normal. Was he about to have another panic attack like the one hours ago?

"Link?"

"Don't speak." He whispered, his sight still set on that point at the other side of the road. My eyes searched for whatever was there. There was nothing but overgrown grass and the occasional tree.

"Link? What do you see? What is..." He shushed me and covered my mouth with one of his pale, shaky hands. With the other one he quickly reached for his cellphone, leaving me amazed that with such speed he hadn't injured one of his fingers and dialed as quickly as his thumb could move. Occasionally, he would glance at the same point at the other side. What was it? What could he see? His trembling was even far more noticeable with his hand on my mouth. I opted not to make a move or sound so that he could find comfort with my obedience. There was something there that made him fear. That or Link was literally crazy. But...since we left the palace I couldn't stop thinking that Link wasn't in fact a looney. Well, a little perhaps. But not a total crackpot like I thought. On the contrary, I now believed him to be the most brilliant mind in the entire school. No wonder he got better grades and scores than I did. The guy was a genius! Not an entirely friendly and amiable genius but a genius nonetheless. There was far more in Link than met the eye and we gave him credit for. He wasn't the kind of man that my peers painted him to be. And who knows? Maybe, after we finish this project, I would get to know the man behind the indifferent and lazy and careless mask. Become his friend and change the perspective the entire school held of him. But that was a problem we should affront later own, for now I just wished to uncover the veil that was Truant and understand Link. Find out if he was really a crazy dumb or not. It wouldn't surprise me if he missed a few screws. After all, most brilliant minds were hand in hand with that touch of insanity, making them even more amazing. Wow. In just one day, Link had managed to alter the image I painted of him. Wondered if insanity was contagious.

"Shit!" Link's yell pulled me out of my thinking. He glanced towards the fixed point as if he could burn it down, the hand that held his phone gripped it with such strength that I feared it would break. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" His other hand uncovered my mouth and took my hand. "Follow me! Don't look back!"

"Link what..." He pulled me with force as we ran down the road.

"Where are you?" He asked as he even stepped up on our pace and glanced back, his visible ice cold blue eye widening as if a dog was at our heels. The voice at the other side of the phone must have said some pretty good news for I felt his hand relaxing a little. His grasp was still firm and his shaking noticeable, but it was a firm grasp even though. "Keep moving when you arrive. We are a bit farther away from the meeting point, but still in the road...Perfect, thanks." He hung up and our velocity increased once more.

"Link what's wrong?" I asked panting. I was getting a bit tired and exhausted. He didn't answer, not even turned to look at me. I was about to scream at him when a pair of lights hit us from behind. I felt Link relax completely and stop. He glanced behind me, over my shoulder and his eyes searched with urgency whatever he had seen. The lights were the taxi he had called and he thanked the chauffeur as he opened the door. After we both were in, we took away back home. Our return was a quiet one even though I did try to start conversation with Link. Something had happened and apparently he wished to remain secretive about it. He didn't even uttered a few words of apology for his attitude. I sighed annoyed, opting to listening to the soothing ballads that played on the taxi's radio. Perhaps this was an episode that showed he was really crazy. Who knows? Besides, we have a few days since we began to get along if you can say it like that. Its yet too soon for him to reveal me his secrets and inner most thoughts. It was to be expected. So, I sighed once more and looked at Link who kept his stare out the window. He was still a bit shaken for his pallor was white and his hands trembled every now and then. It was then when it hit me, I had stop thinking of Link as Truant. I began to see him as Link the person not the character. And the most curious part of it was that I didn't mind it that much.


End file.
